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RUDY’S GOT BEEF

Geno’s Steaks

in Philadelphia. The cheese-steak joint was thrown into the national spotlight last year when owner Joey Vento put up a sign telling patrons, “This Is America: When ordering, please speak English.” Since

Rudy Giuliani

‘s GOP rivals have attacked him for making New York a “sanctuary city” for undocumented immigrants, a little cred from the Minuteman crowd could be just what he needs. The visit also highlighted a part of Giuliani’s past he dearly wants to preserve: his unwavering support of law enforcement. Geno’s has long been a shrine to the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police. Most provocative is the slogan employees wear on their shirts: “Officer Danny Faulkner was murdered by

Mumia Abu-Jamal

who shouldn’t be in an 8 x 10 foot cell…He should be six feet closer to hell.” From its crackdown on jaywalkers to the shootings of

Amadou Diallo

and

Patrick Dorismond

, Giuliani’s NYPD was frequently embroiled in controversy, but Rudy stood behind it. His visit to Geno’s may have been intended to remind GOP voters of his law-and-order bona fides. If he can ride this message to the White House, Geno’s could be his Bob Jones University. MATTHEW BLAKE

THEY SAID WHAT?

“My job is a decision-making job. And as a result, I make a lot of decisions…. I delegate to good people. I always tell

Condi Rice

, ‘I want to remind you, Madam Secretary, who has the PhD and who was the C student. And I want to remind you who the adviser is and who the President is.’… I got a lot of PhD types and smart people around me who come into the Oval Office and say, ‘Mr. President, here’s what’s on my mind.’ And I listen carefully to their advice. But having gathered the device [sic], I decide, you know, I say, ‘This is what we’re going to do.’ And it’s ‘Yes, sir, Mr. President.’ And then we get after it, implement policy.” –President

George W. Bush

to a crowd in Lancaster, Pa., October 3

“I intend to win in November 2008, and then I intend to build a centrist coalition in this country that is like what I remember when I was growing up.” –Senator

Hillary Clinton

to the Washington Post, October 10 (Hillary grew up as a Goldwater girl.)

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IN MEMORIAM

: On September 25 the Palestinian national movement lost one of its most courageous and farsighted leaders.

Haidar Abdel-Shafi

, co-founder of the Palestine Liberation Organization, died of cancer at 88 in his hometown, Gaza City. His insistence on hardheaded realism and adherence to principle earned him the love and respect of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and throughout the diaspora. The late

Edward Said

, a friend and colleague, admired Abdel-Shafi’s “sense of calm decency,” observing that he was “not principally a political man, but someone whose life and relatively few words suggest an abiding sense of Palestinian nationalist struggle.”

Abdel-Shafi’s finest hour may have been the speech he gave at the opening of the international peace conference in Madrid in the fall of 1991. With eloquence and dignity, he made the case for Palestinian independence and an end to Israeli occupation. “We are willing to live side by side on the land,” he said. “Sharing, however, requires two partners willing to share as equals. Mutuality and reciprocity must replace domination and hostility.”

Selected by PLO leader

Yasir Arafat

to lead the post-Madrid talks with the Israelis, Abdel-Shafi insisted that Israel conform to international law and agree to remove the settlements in the territories. Israel’s refusal to budge on this crucial point and its continued settlement expansion led Abdel-Shafi to quit the negotiations in 1993. For the same reason, later that year he condemned the Oslo Accords that Arafat had negotiated secretly with the Israelis. Like Said, Abdel-Shafi presciently saw that nothing in that agreement would prevent the Israelis from further expropriations of Palestinian land. The movement has now descended into civil conflict, but the news of Abdel-Shafi’s death temporarily united Fatah and Hamas in praise for the grand old man of Gaza. ROANE CAREY

‘OOPS, MY BAD’

: “I do terrible interviews routinely,” Jon Stewart announced to his

Daily Show

audience recently, harking back to the oddly hostile exchange he had in April with Blackwater author and Nation contributor

Jeremy Scahill

. Referring to Blackwater’s role in Iraq, Stewart skeptically quizzed Scahill, “Why is that a terrible thing?” Following the recent barrage of news reports documenting Blackwater’s crimes, Stewart mocked his own ignorance. After replaying a clip from the interview, he said, “It’s almost as though I don’t know what the [bleep] I’m talking about.” Note to Stewart: Jeremy accepts your apology and looks forward to being back on the show to talk about

Blackwater

.

VACATION HOT SPOTS

: A series of studies released by the

US Geological Survey

in September have environmentalists worried about the fate of the world’s remaining 25,000 polar bears. The reports predict that global warming will wipe out two-thirds of the polar bear population by 2050. You might be asking yourself what this means for walruses, ivory gulls, little auks and other Arctic wildlife. Studies show that the Arctic is the fastest warming place in the world, and in the past 500 years, human activity has forced the extinction of 820 species. But consider this silver lining: if you want to see these beasts before they’re gone, you can book a ticket on a “climate” tour–where you can witness firsthand the effects of global warming (and add your own carbon footprint). There are several outfits to choose from, and you’ll be pleased that they’re quite affordable–for only $5,000 (airfare not included) you get a twelve-day trip to

Warming Island

near Greenland with Betchart Expeditions Inc. According to its website, the island, long underwater, has been revealed by melting ice: it’s “a compelling indicator of the rapid speed of global warming.” So why let

Leonardo DiCaprio

have all the fun? KATHRYN LEWIS

CHÁVEZ SINGS

: President. Chomsky fan. Castro confidant. To these laurels

Hugo Chávez

can add “recording artist”: with the release of his album of Venezuelan folk songs, to be distributed, free. (Inspired by